Good Guy
by Vergil Vanire's Paper Heart
Summary: 'No, Dante decided. This isn't Nero. A demon stole the real Nero. Dante didn't seem to realize that demon was himself.' After sharing a bed, two hunters have some things to sort out, and it's not very pleasant. Oneshot. MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING


Title: Good Guy  
Summary: No, Dante decided. This isn't Nero. A demon stole the real Nero. Dante didn't seem to realize that demon was himself.  
Warnings: boy/boy, **MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING:**** RAPE**, suicidal Nero  
Pairing: Dante/Nero

This is the kind of story that reminds people: there should always be permission granted before they do something like this. It's only consensual if they confirm it's consensual.

* * *

Dante quickly figured out what Nero was up to, tackling him with equal speed.

Dante loved Nero. Anyone could see that. No statement could be more obviously true than 'Dante loves Nero.' So, he couldn't figure out why the younger devil hunter's current life goal seemed to be 'Scare Dante to death,' right now.

Bolting at the window like that... Nero knew his limits, and he knew that even Dante wouldn't survive a concrete dive from so high. Nero would have died.

But that's what he had in mind.

Nero didn't want to survive the depression of having to know that Dante didn't stop when he said no. And how many times had he said it? He thought close to fifty. There was no way Dante hadn't heard him.

It looked like Dante thought 'no' could be overridden if the body below you was responding in a consensual way. Nero thought that logic was broken; just because Dad says 'yes' doesn't mean mom never said 'no.' And Nero was sure he said plenty of 'no.'

Nero didn't have the energy to fight Dante anymore, looking at him with eyes like he really had hit the ground; dead. Dante stole the spark from them. This may as well not be Nero. Nero understood. Nero loved him. Nero wasn't suicidal.

No, Dante decided. This isn't Nero. A demon stole the real Nero.

Dante didn't seem to realize that demon was himself.

"What's wrong with you, Nero? You were crying earlier because you thought we were so beautiful!"

Nero's voice matched his eyes as he explained, not with malice, but simple contradiction: "I was crying earlier because I was raped."

"Nero, don't say that. That word doesn't belong with us. Not in this room, not anywhere." His voice was gentle as he tried to reason with this...confused version of his partner. The partner he loved.

Nero couldn't find a reason to argue, but threw out: "I said 'no,'" anyway.

Dante's voice was quiet, but insistent. "No, you did not, Nero."

Nero saw the futility of the situation once more, closing his mouth. Dante couldn't admit it, he supposed.

Because Dante was a good guy, and Dante stopped when someone said 'no,' and Dante didn't rape Nero, no matter how much the younger thought that. That was absolutely not what happened.

After a long moment, the red-clad half-devil helped Nero to his feet, standing dutifully in front of the window, his brother-possessed lover eyeing him the same way he eyed everything now.

That's when it hit the Halfling: this behavior was so familiar. "You're acting like Vergil."

"Vergil was your brother."

"Yeah?"

"You loved Vergil."

"Nero, I love you."

"But you loved Vergil?"

"Yeah, alright. I loved Vergil," he agreed.

"Did you rape Vergil?" It was said as a normal question, in the same tone of indifference he was treating everything with.

"No. And I didn't rape you."

"Okay, Dante."

Nero picked his cell phone from the pocket of his abandoned pants.

"Who could you possibly want to call right now?"

"Trish; she might be able to help us sort this out."

"We don't need to bring her into this; she doesn't need any drama."

He said it gently enough, but Nero took it as an order, and didn't have the energy to challenge it. Not when it was so painfully obvious he couldn't win. That was probably what Dante was scared of most.

But when Nero grabbed Blue Rose, Dante panicked.

"It won't kill me, but I'm sure you'd hate to watch me shoot myself over and over until you let me out." Even before the gun was held to his chest, Dante knew he was completely serious.

"Nero! No one is keeping you here!"

Nero smiled a soulless smile that Dante wouldn't be able to decipher if you gave him the rest of his mortal life and the eternity he would spend in Hell to look at it...and he had the sinking feeling he would spend a lot of his time in Hell with that face staring at him.

But he didn't have to. "Dante, I'm going to do it anyway."

Even with all the inhuman speed Dante possessed, he couldn't reach Nero before the trigger was pulled.

Nero stood there a moment, seemingly unphased, but fell into Dante after a moment. "Fuck... Lay me down Dante, and could you pull the shards out?"

Dante spent the next several minutes pulling bullet shards from his partner's chest with an envelope cutter. "I think that was the last piece... Nero, please don't do that ever again..."

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you, Dante..."

"Huh?"

"Blue Rose uses memory surfacing to fight demons, to make them more docile... You were right; I never said 'no.' You...didn't know to stop, I should have believed you, I mean: I know you better than that. I know you would never do that to me."

_After all, you're a good guy, and good guys don't rape people._

He didn't feel betrayed anymore, but he would never quite be the same. He just wanted to curl up with Dante and forget it ever happened...


End file.
